


NieR:To Change a World's Fate

by orphan_account



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, I'm Bad At Summaries, NieR: Automata Spoilers, Not Beta Read, Other, POV First Person, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2020-12-17 01:35:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21046139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Have you ever wondered how it would feel to end up in another world, one that you thought was mere fiction? Have you ever wondered how it feels to see its story unfold in front of you? I have. When I woke up in the world of NieR:Automata, I decided to change its ending. To give all of them, protagonists and antagonists... a better future.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick heads up: Title may not be final.

The rays of sunlight washed over me as I was sleeping. I could feel the warmth of the sun as it shone upon me, disturbing what was left of my sleep. The bed beneath me was strangely cold and hard like a rock. Probably I just didn't sleep well and now I was feeling cranky, and lately I had that kind of problem. I could also feel the wind softly blowing and messing my hair a little bit... Wait, that wasn't supposed to be happening! My window was on the other side of the room and it was closed!

With that thought, I immediately pulled myself up in a sitting position and opened my eyes to understand better why I was feeling the wind and... Well, for a moment there I thought I was dreaming.

I found myself on the roof of a building made of stone. The sky above me was completely cloudless, I could see the sun above me, so I had to squint my eyes. Noises caught my attention, just past the border of the roof. So, I slowly pulled myself up and walked right by the edge and looked down. What I saw completely threw me off.

I knew this place. I knew this place all too well. This place... This were the City Ruins! One of the main areas of the world of Nier:Automata! How in the holy hell I ended up there? I tried to recall what happened before I fell asleep, but it was all a big blur. Nothing made sense.

Looking better around me, I figured out precisely in which part of the city I was: if my memory worked correctly, I was looking from the place where Adam and Eve would sit down and speak during the whole time you don't see them. Which meant that there was a ladder that I could use to travel down.

Steeling myself I turned myself and went into the building. I remembered correctly because, as soon as I entered, I saw the stairs leading down. Since the place was extremely big, it took a bit to reach the ground floor. But when I did, I found a very disturbing sight.

It was the corpse of a YoRHa unit, impaled by one of their own weapons, a lance to be more precise. That had to be a Type-4O lance by the looks of it. The face of the unit was frozen with their mouth wide open... and while their visor, which looked more like a bandage, was still on, something told me that their eyes would have been almost bulging out of their sockets.

Getting a closer look, I could also see that there were some machines scattered around. She was probably overwhelmed by the machines and ended up being stabbed with her own weapon. Disturbing, but probably true.

If there was gonna be machines around, I was sure as hell defenseless. Probably having something I could defend myself with would make it easier. So, I tried to pull the spear out of the poor girl's body, but the weight of the corpse wouldn't let it budge.

"Dang... Guess I shouldn't have skipped gym for so many days." I said to no one in particular. Damn. If I couldn't defend myself agaisnt the machines, then the Humans would truly go extinct once again. Just as I was about to try again, I heard some static noise from the side and a robotic voice saying something.

"Thi... d 05... estin... istan... unkno... nit." It was a feminine voice, but it was somewhat monotone, not showing any emotion. I brought my attention towards the voice and I saw something flashing real quick. Then I saw it again, and again. It was a red light, going on and off constantly. Curious me told me to go and investigate. And so I did.

What I found was not that surprising, actually. It was a Pod unit, probably belonging to the girl impaled behind me. It was not flying, so probably it's flight function was damaged. And the way its voice was acting, probably even its speakers were broken.

"Unkno... nit... chine c... ot det... requi... istance." It spoke to me, but the words were broken here and there. The way it looked though... I think it was asking for some sort of assistance.

"What do you need me to do?" I asked, curious. It was not like you had the chance to talk to a Pod everyday.

"Thi... it's spe... re not... king cor... If un... repla... commu... be smoo..." Ok, this was getting quite annoying if I had to be honest. I needed to help it, but with this problem it was going to be one tough cookie.

"And... how do I do... whatever you are asking?"

"The ma... es behi... should.... speak... t could b... to repla... unit's fa... ones." Well, this was a bit better. It was relatevly easier to understand this way. I needed to retrieve a speaker from the machines behind me. Great! ... There was only one problem with that.

"How does a speaker looks like? I've... never seen one in a machine." I knew that machines were capable of speech. You see that much during the whole story. '_I still have nightmares about that whole 'Become as gods' stuff _' I thought. Thankfully for me, this pod still had working screen projectors.

It showed me the image of a speaker, and... it was rather easy to find in the machines. Sadly, a lot of them were either broken or damaged pretty badly. But some twisted luck actually helped when I found it in the corpse of a machine near the exit of the building. There were still some machines roaming around, but they didn't seem to acknowledge my existence... which was good. As soon as I got the speaker, I returned to the Pod and moved to work on it, before I stopped and rememberd that it's never explained how Pods worked. So repairing it without causing too much trouble would be a pain.

As if sensing my doubts, the Pod opened itself and guided the red flashing light near it's speaker. As I imagined, it was in a bad condition. I could basically see the sparks flying out of it. There were some cables attached to it, but they were removeable. The pod removed them itself and then let me take the faulty speaker out and place the new one in. As soon as I did that, the cables attached themselves to the new speaker... creepy.

After a few moments of silence though, the pod spoke again in the same voice as before. I was honestly surprised. I thought that changing the speaker would also change the voice. Huh, the more you know, right?

"This unit wishes to espress its gratitude to the unkown unit for the temporary assitance." It spoke... but to be honest I felt bad calling the pod a 'It'. I mean, it doesn't have a gender since it's not a human... but the voice still made it awkward.

"Well, I'm... glad I could help you... I guess?" I said to her. It was still strange to actually be talking to a Pod. Next thing I know I'll probably run into A2 or something.

"This unit has detected no machine core in Unknown unit. But all the same, detection of Resistance or YoRHa recording of Unknown unit are nonexistent. Question: Is Unknown unit affiliated with the Resistance?" She asked. It was true that the Resistance android looked more human like thanks to their clothes... And then I rememebered that I was going around in my pajama. That was great.

"That's... a difficult question. I'm not associated with the Resistance and YoRHa... but at the same time you could say I have some sort of connection with YoRHa." It was really hard to speak and not make a mess of myself. YoRHa was the one with the motto that said 'Glory to Mankind' so... I thought I should have been more affiliated with them? I wasn't sure.

"Negative. Unknown unit doesn't posses a black box signal. Therefore it should be affiliated with the Resistence." That was logical... but I was growing impatient with that sassy little metal box.

"Listen, I'll probably be able to give you more details if you can contact the bunker... Wait, now that I think about it, you never said your designation, Pod." In that moment I remembered that while she was indeed a Pod, she was not 042 or 153. So it's number and the unit she was assinged to were still a mystery.

"This unit is known as Pod 057, assigned to unit 65D. Unit 65D's signal went offline around 1507 minutes ago, and this unit's damaged function could not allow a safe connection to the Bunker." She answered. Ok, so now I knew both it's number and the unit she was assigned to. A D model... you never truly see one in the main story. And she died in... basically yesterday if my math was correct.

"So, you're saying that you cannot contact the Bunker and let them know that 65D is dead... Could they not have just assumed she was dead? I mean, one day without responding can mean something's wrong."

"Correct. However, Unit 65D was not assigned to an Operator unit since the last one fell victim to a logic virus." She said. A logic virus... now that was a big problem. The whole YoRHa was going to be destoyed by a virus when they were launching an attack against the machines after the death of both Adam and Eve.

"Mhm I see. Can you still send a distress signal?" I asked. I mean, I could at least grab YoRHa's attention somehow. "You may not send it too far, but with some luck, another YoRHa unit might be nearby and recieve the signal."

"A logical conclusion, Unknown unit. Looping distress signal, activated." She said. One thing actually made me cringe a little bit. Being called 'Unknown unit' was not fun.

"Ehm... I do have a name. It's... Well, you may call me Alexander... Or Alex." I guessed that saying my nickname was better than saying my name. It was probably better... I didn't know what else to say, to be honest. "Also, Pod, is there a way I could... take 65D's lance? I mean... she's not gonna use it."

"Unit Alexander is not authorized to wield YoRHa weapons. This unit cannot-"

"I know." I interrupted her before she said somehting that could really annoy me more. "But here's a logical reason: machines could arrive here and attack me by detecting your signal. I'm defensless. If I could take the weapon, I could defend myself and help you reunite with YoRHa."

The silence that fell between us was almost painful. I knew that it was considering what I said but still... it felt like an eternity was passing. After a couple of seconds, the Pod responded.

"Unit Alexander has reached a logical conclusion. Unit Alexander is temporarely allowed to wield Unit 65D's spear." I was practically beaming with joy at those words. Not only I had the chance to wield a real YoRHa weaponry, but that would also allow me to actually study it close enough.

"Nice! ... But it's still stuck inside 65D's body. Do you know a way to remove it?"

"Unit Remnant could activate 65D's self-destruction option. The weapon should not suffer any kind of damage. To do so, Unit Remnant should approach this support unit to the body of unit 65D."

Well, that made sense... I think? Pods were able to interact with their assinged partner's systems so... I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. As the Pod said, I slowly approached the body of 65D, trying to not look intimidated, but miserably failed.

"Ehm... Pod? When the selfdestruct is activated, how much time do I have to sprint away and not be hit?" If I remembered correctly, the autodestruction was also able to hit 2B and 9S. So I wanted to avoid being damaged as much as possible. And good thing I was not in the Bunker. I mean, Ending U was funny as hell, but only if you weren't the one experiencing it.

"Autodestruction activates after three seconds. Unit Remnant can leave this support unit near the body of Unit 65D and seek refuge. While the explosion will knock this unit away, it will not be worse for this unit's current state." She said. Somehow, what she said sounded like a 'I'm gonna stay here, whether you like it or not'. And I didn't like it one bit. Still, I complied. Once I left the Pod there, I immediately ran and hid behind one of the walls and covered my ears. I really didn't want to go deaf.

A few seconds passed before the explosion happened. When I looked back, I saw that both the pod and the lance were laying in a small crater. The lance was in perfect condition. The Pod... not so much. While before it could still move its little arms, now she was completely still. As soon as I got close though, her voice started again.

"Operation successful. Unit Remnant is now able to retrieve Unit 65D's weapon." She said as I reached for it. I could still feel the heat from the explosion on the lance and the Pod, so I decided to leave them there for a second. Maybe they'd cool off. A piece of cloth near the Pod caught my attention. It was the visor that the YoRHa unit usually wear. I grabbed it and tried to put it over my eyes to see if it worked for me... it didn't.

Seeing, no pun intended, no other uses for it, I just tied it to my arm. Just to remember who I took it from.  
  
"Is the signal still going?" I asked the Pod. I wanted to make some conversation while I waited for the spear and the Pod to cool down, so that I could grab them without risking to burn myself.

"Positive. The signal is still looping."

That was good news. It meant that we still had a chance to be noticed by passing YoRHa units. Still, we couldn't remain here.

"The Resistance camp is nearby, correct?"

"Positive. It is situated approximately 800 meters from here."

Only 800 meters? That was relatevely close. I did more when I had to go visit my grandma, so it shouldn't have been a great deal. But then I remembered that not all machines were going to simply let me pass by. So I had to travel quickly. And that meant that I had to move now as I could have been anywhere in the timeline. The only thing I knew was that I was before the arrival of the Engels that would destroy the city. I could not see the huge corpse outside and the buildings were still intact.

Steeling myself, I used one of the machines blades to cut off one my shirt's sleeves and used it to grab the lance without risking to burn myself. Fascinatingly enough, it was not as heavy as I feared since I could easely hold it with one hand. With the other I grabbed the Pod, finding that it was already cooled down, thanks to some sort of self cooling program, probably. And so, Pod in one hand and a lance in the other I exited the building, with the Resistance camp as my destination.

'_Hopefully, I'll find 2B and 9S there. And if they are not there yet, I'll ask Anemone to send them to me._'

I was aware of this world's story... but my goal of changing things could backfire on me. I had to be careful at every important event.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello everyone and welcome to Nier:To Change a World's Fate. I know that it may not seem much to look at, but I tried really hard to write this as decently as possible. Updating this little story will take a while. Between other things to write, life being life, and sometimes having a writer block can make it harder. So I only ask that you show patience. And if you can, please, give me some advices if you see something off, whether it be a typo/grammatical error/bad phrasing or just something being OOC. I can have trouble understanding when I'm going too far from a character's usual behaviour. That is all.
> 
> Ever since I played the first few minutes of NieR:Automata, I fell in love with the game. The story, the character, the graphic, the combat style. They all spoke to me, and left a mark on my memory that will never be erased. I truly commend Yoko Taro for creating this masterpiece. And remember everyone: Even if you struggle, I'm by your side. Don't give up! (yes this was my message when I reached Ending E the first time. I still tear up thinking about it.)
> 
> This is part one of a two part story. When this part is done I'll start writing the second story, and it'll be a sequel. It'll take place somewhere else, but that's the only thing I'm gonna say for now. 
> 
> I wish you all have a great day and if you can, support me while I write this.


	2. Discover and Uncover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our protagonist retrieves a weapon, reaches the camp and already meets some of the more important characters of the story

Exiting the building where I appeared, I took a moment to inspect the area around me and try to take in as many details as possible. The little grassy area was just as the game showed it, maybe the grass was a little higher than it looked in game, and I could see machines roaming around aimlessly with their distrubing yellow eyes.

I could also see some moose roaming around and munch on the grass that was in the area. Back home I only saw moose in documentaries, and in the game, so seeing one so close was actually really interesting. One of them passed near me and I used the chance to pet it a little bit. Thankfully, it didn't react badly at my touch, and kept on moving forward reaching the vending machine on the side and sitting down near it.

I honestly wondered how the fast travel function worked. I mean, during the game it just showed you character entering one, then a loading screen, and in the end you'd find yourself where you wanted to go. What happened between the moment the androids entered the transporter and the moment they exited? '_I'll probably ask 9S when we meet. He'll know for sure_' I thought.

Moving forward, I decided that before going to the Resistance Camp, I'd make a little stop at the factory nearby. With some luck, I'd probably be able to understand better where I ended up in the timeline. And so, I climbed onto the destroyed truck that was convinently put as some sort of ladder to reach the collapsed road.

It was harder than I thought, mostly because I had to balance myself without letting go of the spear or the Pod. When I reached the road, after probably half a minute of climbing, I leveled the Pod to my head, staring at it. It was dusty and blackened by the explosion from before, but it was barely noticeble since she was dark gray.

"Is something the problem, Unit Alexander?" She spoke after a few seconds of me staring at it.

"Not really. Just checking how you were holding up." I couldn't keep away the worry from manifesting in my voice. Despite being sturdy as hell, all pods could eventually be broken for good and go into Pod heaven.

"This unit is functional enough to provide minimal support. This unit also has a question for Unit Alexander."

It... had a question for me? My thoughts went into a frenzy for a moment, thinking that it was something I've said that could be costing me my sole ticket to proceed with my plans. Still, I took a slow breath to calm down and addressed the pod again.

"If you have a question, ask it. I can't promise I will know the answer to that question." I said.

"Understood. Question: Is Unit Alexander damaged?"

"Damaged? What do you mean?"

"Unit Alexander climbed to this elevation in approximately 35 seconds. According to this unit's data, the slowest android registered to climb this area did it in 23 seconds." She explained. So, I was slower than an android. A machine built to be stronger than a human. How could I, a simple human being, be slower than an android? Inconcievable! Seriously, was this pod joking?

Although... It might have thought that I was an android. I never stated that I was a human, just as I have never stated to be an android. But right now it wasn't the time to think about that. The pod was waiting for my answer.

"I see. Anyway, no, I'm not damaged. But the full answer will have to wait. I'd rather be in a safer place."

Only silence was the answer to my statement. I could see that the pod was still active, but she was completely silent. She was probably processing my answer. I shrugged before moving again towards the factory. Thankfully there was no enemy this early in the story. If my memory worked correctly, enemies would start to appear after the destruciton of the central part of the city ruins, which didn't happen yet.

When I reached the factory I was almost overwhelmed by the stench of oil coming from it. It was nauseating since it was so strong. I truly wished I was a machine or an android in that moment, so maybe I wouldn't have to deal with that. Still, I pressed forward, climbing the stairs to reach the area where you'd fight Engel at the very beginning of the story, or where you meet with Pascal before the whole Become as Gods ordeal.

Already arriving there, granted me a major insight on where I was in the story. I could see that Engels was not present and the bridge was destroyed, so that meant that 2B and 9S would probably be around already. A little glimmer of light caught my attention on the bridge and I did a double take because I was sure to be allucinating.

Standing there, nearby a female android corpse, was one of my favorite weapons of the entire game: Virtuous Treaty, 2B's signature large sword. It was marvelous to see up close, something that would make my cousin, someone who studied how to create blades, faint on the spot. I stabbed the ground with the spear and pinched myself, just to be sure that I wasn't dreaming. And wouldn't you know it... nothing happened. I was still there, admiring that sword.

I was _so_ gonna take it with me, and give it back to 2B when possible... But how could I actually move it around? Surely it was going to be way heavier than the spear, and there was no way in hell that I would leave the spear behind. I needed a fast weapon to be able to defend myself...

Looking around, I saw that there were some ropes hanging around, probably left there for god knows how long. A close inspection proved that they were still sturdy enough to resist being pulled. And that sparked an idea in my mind.

Using the ropes I managed to create some sort of binding that would allow me to strap it on my back, but that was easy enough to remove so that if things got bad quickly, I could leave it and either run or fight better with the spear. I also made some sort of belt with them and hanged the Pod to it, so that I didn't have to carry it around constantly in my hand. Hopefully she didn't mind.

Just as I feared, the sword was way heavier than the spear, but not heavy enough that I was kneeling on the floor just carrying the damn thing. I was gonna move a lot slower than what I feared though, because of the weight. But finally I decided to go for my main objective: the Resistance camp. I had to stretch the time I thought I was gonna take to reach it.

\--

Once I left the factory, and reached the garden in front of the buildings where I started from, I took a moment to look around me and noticed something... peculiar. Some of the machines were destroyed, and I was hearing some fighting noises in the distance, coming from my left, towards the desert. What really caught my attention though was the damage that was caused to some of the machines. While some had slashing signs, other had their bodies caved in, as if something attacked them with a bludgeoning weapon.

I didn't know anyone who actually wielded a blunt weapon like a mace or a hammer. YoRHa's weaponry was primarily full of slashing and thrusting weapons, like the ones I had. Then I remembered about the gauntlets, the fourth type of weapon wielded by YoRHa troops. Could the fighting sounds be YoRHa units attacking the machines? For a moment there I thought about going in that direction, but then I though about it more clearly.

If I went there, I could end up being detected by the machines. And while YoRHa would help me, upon seeing me with their weapons... that would end badly. So, self preservation spurred me to move on forward towards the Resistance camp. And so I did.

Holding tightly the spear in case some machines would show up, I ventured into the little alley that separated the initial garden from the area in front of the camp. I took that little moment to study how the building were faring: while vegetation truly got the better of most of them, the buildings stood strong. During the game you never truly have a chance to examine how a building is faring against nature's work, so seeing it was a true delight.

When I reached the end of the alley, I pushed myself against the wall and poked my head out to see if there were machines around. Surprisingly enough, there were none. Probably the same people who killed the machines in the garden behind me took care of the machines here too. Seeing no threat, I went forward and cringed a little bit when my feet touched the cold water. I never liked the cold.

The water made me think of a little something, and curiousity pushed me near the waterfall. Once there I gently dropped the lance on the floor and cupped my hands together to gather some water. It was extremely clean, like you would see in a river untouched by humans. And with a bit of faith, and perhaps foolishness, I drank it. I felt only the refreshing sensation of drinking cool water during a hot day of summer. So, I found a perfect source of water that probably wouldn't give me some sort of disease.

With that enstablished, I picked up the lance again, and resumed my path to the camp nearby. And while the wet sound of my feet on the ground was annoying me, I made it to the entrance without any sort of trouble. But there, I hesitated.

What would the androids think if they saw someone walk in with YoRHa weapons, without being of YoRHa? And worse of all, with a Pod dangling around? Trying to buy some time, I looked to the pod and spoke to her.

"This should be the entrance to the Resistance camp, correct?" I asked. I already know the answer was yes, but still... I wanted to steel myself.

"Positive. The entrance to the Resistance camp lies beyond this building." She answered.

Taking a huge breath, and probably shaking a little bit, I moved forward and entered the camp. I almost expected to hear the music playing, and was internally disappointed that it didn't happen. But the sight was something that the game didn't really convey: it was like walking into a little market plaza during one of those summer days where people were just having fun. The smell of oil was everywhere, but that sled to the side while I took in whatever I could of the camp. Before much though, someone bumped into me, nearly making me drop on the floor. When I looked at who it was, my heart skipped a beat.

It was a woman in a white dress, with a little bit of black covering her neck and shoulders. The dress was open on the right side, showing a bit of skin on her mid section. She wore red trousers with black shin guards and a pair of black boots. She also had a little black and white bracelet on her right arm. What made me realize with exact precision who I encountered though, was her hair. She had flaming red straight hair, with a flower adorning her right side of the face, and her green eyes were looking at me worriedly, as if she feared that she made me angry.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't see you! I was lost in my own thoughts" Popola exclaimed. She was checking me to see if something was damaged, but sighed with relief when she saw that nothing was out of place. I wondered where Devola was though. Usually the two rarely stood divided.

"There's no need to worry, miss. I wasn't really paying attention either. You can say that it was my fault too." I said. I could not throw away my cover just yet and call her with her name. I could not throw away my cover just yet and hug her, and tell her that she and Devola did nothing wrong. So, I lied. "But, might I know your name?"

"My name's Popola. I work here in the Resistance. Although..." She trailed off. I already knew what she suffered alongside her sister, and had to fight the will to just go up to the androids of the Resistance and demand that they apologized. It wasn't that time yet. "Nevermind that. And what about you?"

Giving her a nonchalant smile, I answered her "I'm Alexander, but I prefer to be called Alex. I came here to the camp to ask for some information. Do you know who's in charge?"

She nodded and pointed at the tent in the back of the plaza, where I could see Anemone bent on some papers on her desk. "The leader is Anemone. She's over there, working on something. I don't know the details, I'm afraid."

"Don't worry, and thank you. Well, off I go then. Have a good day." I told her with a little wave of my hand and a smile. I adjusted the sword behind me, and then moved towards Anemone. But I had the feeling that Popola was staring at me while I did this. She was probably wondering what I was looking for. Checking quickly behind me confirmed that she was looking at me, but then she simply smiled and walked off into the infirmary area.

Shrugging it off, I resumed my walk towards Anemone, reaching her fairly quickly. She was still bent on the papers on her desk, and I could see that they were probably regarding the machines if the drawings were saying something. I took another breath, before speaking "Ehm... excuse me? Are you Anemone?"

Anemone took her eyes off the papers and raised her head to address me. When she saw me, I saw her eyes thin, and her gaze became more sharp, as if she saw something that she didn't really like.

"Who wants to know?" she asked, keeping her voice even, but with a hint of suspicion.

I felt myself sweat under her scrutinizing gaze. It was not a nice feeling, even though I should have been accustomed to it, with my father being a soldier and all. His gazes always made me flinch and shiver. I gulped, and then decided to just... tell a partial truth.

"My name is Alexander. I woke myself not too far from here, not too long ago. When I woke up, I found this little buddy," I pointed at the Pod "and after a bit of discussion I learned that it cannot contact YoRHa due to some sort of damage. It also said that the Resistance works with YoRHa, so I thought about coming here to see if there were some YoRHa units that could help it out."

I was answered only with silence after that. Anemone was still staring at me, almost glaring. Her hands were too close to a sniping rifle for my liking, but I tried my best to not appear intimidated. After a few seconds of tense silence, she sighed, dropping her head down a bit and bringing one of her hands to her temples.

"Yeah, we work with YoRHa all the time. If you had come earlier, you might have found a couple of YoRHa, but they left not too long ago for the desert." she said.

"Oh, I see." And just that told me a huge deal about where I was. 2B and 9S just left for the desert, so that meant that Adam and Eve were about to be created. That meant that once _that_ was done, they'd come back here. That also made me realize that probably the ones that did all the cleaning out of the camp were them. They were also the sound I heard in the distance. If that's the case they should have recieved the distress signal... right?

"You can wait them here. And maybe you'll also explain why you have YoRHa weapons with you." Anemone's words pulled me back to earth, and her gaze made me feel all shivery again. Of course she was gonna be curious about that.

"Self defense, mostly. The YoRHa unit my buddy here was attached to was dead. Impaled by her own spear." I lifted said spear for emphasis. "Since she wasn't gonna use it anymore I took it so that I wasn't defenseless against the machines... although I encountered none while coming here."

Anemone kept on glaring at me for a little longer, before her gaze softened and she pulled herself up, walking near me and started to analyze me silently. It took her a couple of seconds before she signed me to follow her, and I complied silently.

She brought me to the room on the other side of the camp, where usually 9S and 2B would sleep. While we were moving there, I could feel the gaze of the other androids on me, but I fought back the urge to look around me and make sure I wasn't just imagining things. As soon as we reached the room, Anemone opened it quickly before signaling me to enter, Once inside, she closed the door, and looked directly at me.

"While you can stay, I want you to not leave this room until 2B returns from the desert. I'm sure they'll have a lot of questions, and I want to hear the answers myself." She said, keeping a steely gaze upon me.

I simply nodded, before she left the room, leaving me alone with the Pod. I undid the tie that held the Pod to my hips and adjusted her on the bed, before untying the sword and let it drop unceremoniously on the ground with a loung 'clang'. Finally I placed the spear on the ground in front of the bed and then I sit on it, looking at the room itself.

It was relatively empty, although I could see that it doubled as a storage since there were some boxes full of scraps or some materials. And if my sense of smell wasn't betraying me, there was even some sort of medicinal stuff lying somewhere. They always smelled bad. Other than that, I could see the second bed on the other side of the room, with some sheets lying on the ground next to it.

Then my gaze wandered back to the Pod I recalled what Anemone said earlier, about 2B and 9S going to the desert, and the fact that, theoretically, they should have recieved the distress signal... And yet either they didn't care, unlikely, or 042 and 153 didn't actually hear it. Thinking about it made it even more strange, so I lifted the Pod to speak at her.

"Hey, Pod, do you know if any YoRHa unit recieved your distress signal? More specifically during the time we returned from the factory." I asked, hoping that what I feared wasn't true.

The Pod stood silent for a couple of seconds before speaking, confirming my fears. "Negative. This unit's distress signal wasn't intercepted by any YoRHa unit. This unit's ragne of transmittion appears to be smaller than calculated. Approximatively a range of 200 meters."

That meant that from where we stood once I heard the fighting sounds, they couldn't hear it. Blast it. Oh well, that meant that I would have to just lay around and wait.

"I see. Anyway, stop transmitting it. The leader of the Resistance said that 2B should come here so... We'll see a YoRHa unit in a few hours maybe." I said, and in the silence that followed I looked at the Pod to see if the distress signal's light was still on. And after a few moments, it went off.

"Signal no longer transmitting. What does Unit Alexander want to do now?" She asked.

For a moment there I didn't know what to tell her. Anemone said that I wasn't really allowed to leave the room, so I couldn't go around the camp and see it for myself. But that also gave me an idea on what I could do. More specifically, a plan to make YoRHa belive that I was a human. I looked at the Pod again and then I took the spear in my hand.

"Pod, I have something you should analyze for me. A liquid, to be precise" I said and I quickly pricked my finger with the tip of the spear to draw a very small amount of blood. Then I placed the finger in front of the Pod and it immediately started to scan the blood. When it stopped, I quickly cleaned the blood on my shirt and awaited to see what the Pod would say.

She stood there silently for what seemed like an eternity, probably processing what she just analyzed. Then her voice came up, and I couldn't stop a smirk to form on my face. "Analysis complete. The substance is known as blood, found mostly on organic creatures. However this sample corrisponds to human blood. Where did Unit Alexander came in possession of it?"

"Well... I never stated to be an android, did I? Think about it, and you'll understand." I simply answered, keeping that goofy grin on my face.

The Pod went silent again, but just for a moment, before she spoke up again. "There is only once conclusion acceptable: Unit Alexander is a human. This answeres the question this unit asked about the human being damaged. That doesn't correspond to what is known about Humanity, however. Humanity should-" And there, I interrupted her.

"Humanity should be on the moon. And yet, here I am, in flesh and bone. Got to say anything abo-"

This time I was the one interrupted when the door suddenly opened loudly, causing me to jump and wield the spear in a defensive manner. My grip on the spear relaxed slightly when I saw who opened the door. It was the twins, Devola and Popola, and they were staring at me with wide eyes and mouths wide open. Then, Popola took a step forward, and I felt my own blood turn cold at her words.

"You... You're a human?" She said with a voice so quiet it was really hard to hear if you weren't paying attention to it.

Everything turned silent in that moment, all the present in the room, sans the Pod, staring at eachother with a deer in headlights look. During that silence, only one thought echoed in my head.

'_Good job, idiot. Not even a day in, and you already fucked up._'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, he fucked up already. You'd think he'd be more careful on eavesdroppers. And yet, he wasn't. It is only human to makes mistakes, am I right? *wink wink*
> 
> This chapter was actually ready to be published a few days ago, but I decided to delay it because I wasn't completely sure about what I wrote. So I triple checked everything in these few days. If there are some grammatical errors, or some character seems to be acting strangely, be sure to tell me.
> 
> The part that I'm proud of in this chapter is the last one, where Alex allows the Pod to analyze his blood, to confirm that he's a human. It will be used later on for purposes, aaaand maybe something else. You'll just have to wait and see ;)
> 
> As always, critique is welcome. Since I don't have a Beta Reader, even if I check everything, some mistakes can escape my radar


	3. Hugs and Cursed Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our protagonist confronts the twins, comforts them, eats and meets the pair cursed by cruel fate

"You... you're a human?"

Those words. Those few words were enough to almost make all of my plans shatter into nothing already. I wasn't careful enough, and someone heard already that I was not an Android. And that someone _had_ to be the twins. Just what kind of bad luck was I supposed to have?

Acting more out of instinct than anything else, I approached the two girls and ushered them inside before closing the door, checking if someone was watching this way. Thankfully, it didn't look like it, so my nerves calmed a little bit, causing me to heave a long sigh and pinching the bridge of my nose.

'Ok, ok. The situation is still salvageable.' I thought to myself. 'I just need to make the twins swear that they won't say anything. Seems easy enough... Or at least, I hope so.'

Turning around, I saw that Devola and Popola were still staring at me. Devola was looking at me suspiciously, as if she believed that I was not trustworthy. Popola on the other hand... her eyes looked calm, but I could see them shining with hope. She truly wanted for me to confirm what she heard... to confirm what she said.

Another heartbeat of silence passed, before I pointed at them, giving what I could call my best stern glare.  
  
"What you heard, and what you will hear, must not leave this room, unless I say so. Got it?"

The answers I recieved were completely different. While Popola simply nodded, a faint smile on her face, Devola narrowed her eyes, trying to send me a glare of her own.

Seeing no use in delaying the truth anymore, I looked at Popola and nodded to her.

"Yes, Popola... I am human."

Despite some part of me yelled that I was being careless, another part was completely satisfied in seeing Popola's face light up, a smile as bright as the sun, even with the surprise in her eyes. After all those two went through, knowing a living human was right in front of her must be a miracle. So I simply smiled back at her.

Before long though, Devola cleared her throat, still wearing a glare on her face.

"Forgive me for asking, but, how can we be sure that you're a human? We've only heard you say it."

Devola's words were enough to make Popola flinch, making her smile falter and turning it into a frown. She did make a valid argument, since they only heard me talk to the Pod. They didn't see me drop a little bit of blood by pinching myself with the spear...

And that gave me another idea on how to proceed. Devola and Popola were healers, for the most part. And if I remembered correctly, androids had a programming that made them hyperactive if something threatened a human, without forgetting that, according to 9S even though he was deranged, androids desire the touch of their masters. And so...

I approached the spear that was lying on the floor, and without a word, I pressed my palm against its blade, creating a cut and making my hand hurt and bleed. The effect was immediate, as Popola took the spear from my hands in a hurry while Devola immediately disinfected the wound and wrapped my hand with a bandage that she was probably carrying around. One look at her face showed that she was surprised by her own actions.

For a moment, her eyes lingered on the wound, then she lifted them, staring directly into my own. I sent her a little smirk before speaking.

"Do you believe me now? Androids wish to keep their creators safe, even from themselves. And..."

I slowly patted her head with the hand that wasn't wounded, glad to see that she was leaning into my hand, as if she didn't want to stay away from it.

"... While you may have discoverd me a bit early, I am actually glad to see the two of you." I finished with a warm smile before extending the wounded hand over to Popola, beckoning her to come closer.

She did so without saying a word, and took my hand in her own, watching it and caressing it softly. I could see in her eyes that she was still in a sort of trance, her thoughts running faster than a train at full speed.

Without saying anything, I removed my hand from hers and used it to pull her into a hug, doing the same with Devola using my other hand, earning a startled yelp from both. As soon as they were close enough I whispered to them.

"The two of you... You suffered much, and didn't deserve it. What happened back then wasn't your fault. You two... You two did nothing wrong."

They froze as my words left my mouth. I could feel their gazes on me, looking for something I could not place. After a moment though, I felt them wrapping their arms around me as their shoulders started shaking and their heads were on my own shoulders.

I could feel my shirt becoming damper, draining their tears as they silently cried their hearts out. I simply stood there, holding them tightly and making soothing motions with my hands on their back, trying to help them finally remove their burdens from their shoulders.

We stood like that for what felt like an eternity, before the two of them released me from their hugs and looked at me with a smile and eyes full of tears. While it was sad to see them crying, my heart nearly did a flip because... well, they were gorgeous to look at. Even with tears staining their faces, they were still very beautiful women.

And me being a young adult with my hormones still acting like it was party time I had to fight back the more impure thoughts. But they would need to wait.

I invited the two of them to sit down onto the bed where I stood before, and they did, with Popola sitting at my right and Devola at my left. When we were all comfy, I turned my head towards Popola, since she was the first one who saw me.

"Now, don't think that I'm mad at you, but... Why did you decide to eavesdrop?" I softly asked.

Popola hang her head low, almost as if she was embarassed by my question. Which she probably would be, considering she just learned that she basically spied a human.

"I-I... W-well, when I bumped into you, the first thing I noticed is that you were... kind of light. It didn't hurt as if I bumped against another android." She said, face getting red like her hair ever so slowly. "Then there was your voice and your kindness. Since... you know how people treated us. It seemed weird that someone would act nicely towards me."

That... was true. In the backstory that you read about her and Devola, as 9S enters the tower, it was stated that the other androids were hostile towards them. I knew it was not their fault. It was another Devola and Popola who did whatever the hell happened in Nier:Gestalt/Replicant.

"It... caught my attention, so I looked for Devola and saw that you were following Anemone in this room." She continued. "I didn't know what you said to Anemone, but she seemed a bit... annoyed?"

"Well, yeah. For one, I was carrying YoRHa weaponry." I nodded towards the discarded spear and big sword on the ground. "That made her wary. And second..." My gaze fell on the pod, who was staying oddly silent throught this entire event.

With the corner of my eyes, I saw Devola glancing at the pod before facing me again and raising an eyebrow, as if to ask explainations.

"You see... Humanity should be on the moon, as you know." I felt so bad lying to them about the truth. They deserved to know the truth, but... "However, I... somehow found myself waking up on the roof of a building not so far from here. When I reached the base floor, there was a dead YoRHa unit nearby. I think her name was... 65D?"

"Affermative. This unit was assigned to unit 65D. Unit 65D went offline 1537 minutes ago." The pod decided to provide information. So, it has only been half an hour since I found her? "The human Alexander found me and replaced my speakers."

"Thank you, Pod. Anyway, that's basically it. I retrieved 65D's lance, the sword you see there and then came here. I wanted to ask Anemone to send a YoRHa unit to me so that I may have a connection to the Bunker." I finished.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, before I felt something heavy on my right shoulder. Sparing a glance that way, I saw Popola resting her head on my shoulder and... god, she was so cute.

"But, shouldn't you have been able to contact the Bunker with that little fella?" Devola asked.

I simply shook my head before looking at her. "The Pod recieved a huge amount of damage. It... she cannot contact the Bunker."

Devola simply shrugged and nodded, accepting my answer.

And then, silence reigned again. It was not awkward as the one before. It felt more like keeping eachother silent company. Something that I found myself liking as of late. In the spur of the moment, I snaked my arm around the two girls' waists, earning a little giggle from Popola and a surprised look from Devola. In the end, she mimicked her sister and placed her head on my shoulder.

For quite some time, we stood there, appreciating a moment of silence. I wondered if the room was soundproof, since I could hear nothing of what happened outside. But if that was true, then the twins wouldn't have been able to eavesdrop. After a while though, a rumbling sound broke the silence, causing me to blush a bit while the two sisters brought their gazes back to me.

"Was... was that you?" Popola asked, a faint smile on her face. At least she was trying to be polite and hold back, unlike her sister who just laughed at my expense.

"Yeah... that was me." I said, feeling my own cheecks burn with embarassment. "I, um... I am probably a little bit hungry. I don't know how days work here, but I haven't eaten since I woke up. So... no breakfast."

The two sisters decided in that moment to escape my hug, get up going in the other side of the room, and started to talk among themselves in a quiet tone so that I wouldn't hear them. Since the room was small I was able to hear some of their words: 'food', 'hunt', 'here' and 'good luck'.

As soon as they finished speaking, Devola got up and exited the room, watching carefully around, probably to make sure no one saw her. Popola got closer to me, looking me in the eyes.

"Devola went to hunt something for you to eat. There are boars nearby causing a bit of trouble, so if someone asks..." she hangs the phrase there.

_'She would lie and say that she was taking care of it'_ I thought. It was a good idea per se.  The only problem would surface if Devola brought back some meat. People would no doubt question her about it.

I was probably showing some worry through my expression, since Popola put her hand on my shoulder and gave me what could be called a comforting smile... or a tentative one.

"Don't worry. Everything should be fine. We... If anything happens, we'll be at your side." She said.

I huffed a laugh at her words. It felt strange to have her saying that, and I couldn't explain why. I probably felt like it was  _my _ duty to protect her and Devola from the other android. I wasn't sure on what to say, so I simply smiled back at her, makign her own smile more warm and radiant.

Seeing me more calm, Popola decided to sit down near me again, retaking my side and quietly asked me to tell her something about me. She explained that she was doing it because it would take a while before Devola would be back, but I could see that she was genuinely curious about me.

Well... I had nothing to truly hide about myself, so, I could oblige her request.

\--

We spent probably what was at least another half an hour talking about myself. More specifically my food tastes, a little bit of my background and other stuff that I was actually willing to share. As I was telling her about some of my past, I felt like reliving those memories for a moment.

When I told her about my parents, I remembered how they always made me study hard to guarantee me a better future, rewarding me everytime I passed tests. Their rewards where either gifts I asked for, or they were more fun for everyone, like a picnic outside. Of course I had to lie by tying everything to the colony on the moon, and that didn't make me any less guilty.

I told her that I even had some previous training in combat, so that if another human was going to attack me, I knew how to defend myself. God bless Judo and Karate for that.

As we were still talking, I heard someone knocking at the door. Fearing the worst, I signed Popola to stay still while I answered at the door. When I got close enough I opened a little bit and sighed in relief when I saw that it was Devola. She came in without saying much, but I could see her glancing around, making sure nobody saw her.

After the door was closed I saw her pulling something out of a little bag she had on her. It was a black colored box, as big as my head probably, with a little button on the side. She put it on a little table that she found in the room, pulling it near the bed where I was sitting before, before pressing the button that opened the box. What I saw inside of it made my mouth drop.

Inside of the box there was a plate full with a boar steak, adorned with some side salad and what looked like wild berries here and there. She probably found some bushes with them, even if the game never showed them. It was highly unlikely that she went all the way to the forest, expecially since the path there was still blocked probably.

I thanked Devola with a nod of my head and a warm smile before digging in, Thankfully there were a fork and a knife so I didn't have to bite into the steak as if I was an animal. The consistency of the steak wasn't perfect, and it was lukewarm at best, but I wasn't gonna point it out. I just kept on eating this lunch turned breakfast until the plate was empty.

"Phew, I'm full. Thank you Devola." I said, smiling at her to show that I truly appreciated her gesture.

"No problem." She simply said before putting away everything back in the box and putting said box away in her bag.

Just as she was about to say something, however, someone else knocked on the door. I glanced at the two girls in my room, trying to understand if they might know who it was. I already had an idea on who, but I wanted some assurance. Seeying as they both shrugged, I got close to the door.

"Yes? Who is it?" I asked.

"It's me, Anemone. As you asked, there are a couple of YoRHA units here." She said and I could have sweared my heart had stopped.

2B and 9S were here already?! I get it that the trip to the desert was a relatively quick one, but... I guess I would have to work with this anyway. With my head, I signed to the twins to sit down on the bed while I opened the door. When I did, my anxiety spiked, forcing me to hide behind a mask of impassiveness.

Without saying a word, 9S and 2B entered the room, followed by Anemone. She immediately spotted Devola and Popola, ready to ask them why they were here, but I silenced her by raising my hand.

"They stay." My tone was final. I was very thankful that some of my relatives were in the military. Who would have thought that trying to imitate their military like ordering was gonna be useful one day.

Anemone looked befuddled when she tried to reply but found herself unable to retaliate back. This is something that never happened to her, and she was extremely confused. The same could be said of 9S who looked impressed by how I put Anemone into her place. As always, however, 2B showed no signs of emotion.

I always felt bad for her when I played through Nier: Automata, especially after I read the stories where she kills 9S. She deserved better, like everyone in this god forsaken place.

The silence streched for a couple of seconds before 9S approached me, looking me up and down, as if he was trying to analyze me. What am I saying, of course he was analyzing me. He was a Scanner, his job was to analyze things.

"So, um, Anemone here told us that you wanted to discuss something with us?" He asked, his voice resulting a little shy. He wasn't very good with others, beside 2B that is.

I nodded before I pointed towards Pod 057 with my head. "When I woke up, I found that pod nearby one of your soldiers, 65D. The pod was damaged and so couldn't send a distress signal. I was hoping you would come here for three reasons." I held up my hand counting the reasons on my fingers. "First, I wanted to give it back to you and give you the news about 65D's demise, if you hadn't heard already."

9S was quick to shake his head. "We knew that 65D was nearby, but we didn't know she was terminated. As you said, we recieved no distress signal."

I nodded before continuing with my speech. "The second reason is because I wanted to return YoRHa weapons to you." With that I pointed first towards the Type-40 lance, seeing as 9S and 2B nodded. Then, holding back the need to smirk, I pointed towards 2B's big sword and I saw 2B do a double take.

"That... is mine. Where did you find it?" She asked. Her tone was neutral, but if didn't know any better, it would have looked like she was threatening me.

"It was on the broken bridge of an abandoned factory, with an urecognizable corpse nearby. I went there to assess where I was, see if anything looked familiar." That wasn't a complete lie. I was there to see if Engel was dead, so I had a better knowledge on where I was in the timeline.

2B kept on staring at me, eyes still covered by the bandage that actually was a visor. After a moment, however, she reached for her sword and let it fly behind her back, near her normal sword, Virtuous Contract. Just like its bigger counterpart, it was a sight to behold.

Shaking my head, I returned to the main topic, lifting my third and final finger. "Lastly, I wanted to ask to be connected to the Bunker and speak directly to your Commander."

That got an intense silence as an answer as all androids in the room regarded me with stupefied looks. Even Devola and Popola were looking at me like I had lost my mind. Probably asking this directly wasn't the best of ideas.

I could see from the corner of my eyes that 2B was trying to reach for her swords, probably, but her arms weren't moving, causing her to scowl at them. Once again, the human protection protocol was a blessing.

"Why would you want to speak with the Commander?" Strangely enough, it wasn't 9S who asked it. It was Anemone. Her brows were furrowed, trying to understand why in the seven hells was I asking what I asked.

Heaving a great sigh, I turned my attention towards 'my' pod and spoke to it.

"Pod, send the info about the sample you analyzed to 9S' Pod. Let's see if 9S reached the same conclusion you had."

There was a moment of silence, before Pod 057 reacted to my words. "Understood. Pod 057 to Pod 153, requesting approval to send sample information."

"Pod 153 to Pod 057. Request approved. Commence data tranfer." Pod 153 chimed from behind a baffled 9S. His mind was probably trying to find an explaination for the fact that I could order a Pod to do something.

After a few moments of silence, before a faded screen appeared before Pod 153, allowing 9S to llok through it. His expression changed from curious to confused and then surprised in the span of a moment, before his gaze flickered back to me.

"This... this is human blood. Where did you find a sample of it?!" His voice was a pitch higher than normal. I had his complete interest and attention, and that was exactly what I needed.

I raised my wounded hand and carefully removed the bandage from it, showing my closed wound. The bandage had some dried blood on it, so I passed it to him. "Analyze this, and you'll have your answer."

He immediately took the bandage from my hands and started to analyze is very thoroughly, from top to bottom. Another few seconds passed before I saw him freeze and slowly look up to me, mouth hanging open. His eyes were probably the size of dinner plates behind his visor. He approached me and took my wrist into his hand, pressing lightly his thumb on it. I knew he was looking for my pulse, since androids don't have one.

When he found it, he went back to stare at my face again. I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at his expression.

"9S, what is wrong?" 2B asked, doing her very best to hide the distress in her voice. She probably didn't like this situation.

"2B, he's... he is... A human." he said, without tearing his eyes away from mine.

Once again, the whole room went silent. 2B immediately stared at me, in a stiff pose that I would almost call a "deer in headlight". Anemone instead was opening and closing her mouth, trying to say something, but finding out nothing to say. Devola and Popola saw me looking at them and simply smiled and nodded. I had their support regardless.

I brought my gaze back on 2B and 9S, showing them the biggest, smuggest grin I could ever muster. It seems that, for now, I played my cards well.

"So, will you let me speak with the Commander now?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, hello, hi. I'm still alive. Sorry if I didn't made myself known during December, but I took a bit of a pause from writing, since I was busy the whole month (like every year). 
> 
> So, here we have chapter 3. To be fairly honest, I am not totally satisfied with it, but since I put a deadline on myself, I wanted to publish it without regrets. No beta we die like men, right? It feels like some parts are repetitive, and my low self-esteem doesn't really help. That's why it takes a lot for me to actually get a chapter done. My insecurity makes me write rather slowly. The only thing that I ask is that you guys are patient with me. Not only in the timing for the chapters to be poster, but also for how I write stuff. Some things might be OOC, and if they are, know that I'm not doing it on purpose. If it was on purpose, I would say so.
> 
> As always, critique is welcome. And remember kids: Devola and Popola did nothing wrong! (The chapter's title may not be final btw)


	4. Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our protagonist speaks with the Commander and 2B

The smugness I felt in this moment was like nothing else. It was actually pretty funny to see almost everyone in the room staring at me in awe. They never saw a human before, except for the twins, so I guess it was normal. But still, pretty funny.

Of course, at my request of speaking with the Commander, 9S turned immediately towards his Pod. Probably to contact 21O before anyone else. I was unsure if that was a good idea or not, but in order to avoid info leaks, it was best if 21O wasn't warned about my existence yet.

When I pulled my hand up in a stop motion, 9S froze on the spot, turning back to look at me dead in the eyes. I used that moment to speak with all the authority I could muster in my voice.

"I would prefer if I were the one to contact the Commander. I want every single one of you to wait outside and not eavesdrop." I gave a pointed look at the twins, who suddenly found the wall to be very interesting. "You can stay on guard outside, making sure no one is going to listen. If I discover that any of you found it funny to listen in..." I left my phrase hanging there. I know it probably didn't sound menacing at all, but it was worth a try.

From the reaction of the others, however, it seemed like it worked. 9S immediately snapped to attention and put a hand on his chest, in the usual "Glory to Mankind" pose. 2B was a bit slower than 9S, but I could see that she stood too at attention. Devola and Popola just nooded towards me, while Anemone didn't even wait and exited the room. Was that a bad sign? I wasn't sure.c

Before 9S and 2B could leave the room however, I stopped them and signed them to get closer for a moment. While Devola and Popola exited, I shared a look with the two before speaking.

"First things first, Pod 153 will have to remain here with me. Since she's the one with the info about my blood, she can send it to the Commander as soon as I speak with her. Pod 042 will guard the door instead and makes sure not even you get close. Got it?" I asked, keeping the best neutral face I could.

I wanted to do so much for these two, but for now, I had to act as a morally strict human. I had to show a mask of stone to make sure that they would listen to me.

They both nodded and started to move towards the door, with Pod 153 remaining near me. As soon as they were outside, I could Pod 042 put himself before the door as it was about to close. 'It is for the best' I said in my mind, as I turned my gaze towards the Pod 153 and nodded to it.

It is time to talk to the Commander.

Immediately, Pod 153 opened up the comunication screen, showing the YoRHa logo as it was transmitting the call towards the bunker... Towards White.   
  
I would be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous at the thought of speaking with her. Many scenarios went into my head in the span of a moments. What if she didn't belived me? What if she said that the blood I gave as a proof was fake? So many ifs, so little time to consider them all. And I was a step away from discovering what my idea might bring me.

The screen changed, showing a rather annoyed White that wasn't looking directly towards me. Her gaze was directed to her side, and I could hear her saying something to someone else. Probably an Operator that brought up something to her. Their words stopped, and she shifter her gaze to her comunication screen.

"Yes, 9S? What is..." Her words died in her mouth as soon as she saw me. I could see confusion in her eyes, before she shifted it into cold fury. "Who are you? And how did you manage to replicate a Pod's signal?"

I could hear now why every YoRHa unit was scared of her. Her voice carried a lot of authority, something that was befitting of her rank. Once again, I had to mentally thank my relatives for being in the military. Since I was used to it whenever we visited them, her commanding voice didn't make me waver.

"Hello, Commander White of YoRHa." I said, keeping a neutral tone. "If you truly wish to know who I am, well... Let me be extremely direct with you." I brought my right hand to my chest, like 9S and 2B did before. "My name is Alexander. And I am a human."

I probably just imagined it, but I thought I saw her flinch for a moment. And even if she did, she immediately regain her cool, keeping the same look she had before.

"A clever attempt. It is widely known that humanity is on the moon, waiting for us to rid the world of the machine threat." She said.

Once again I felt myself smirk. I knew more than she thought. Keeping the small smirk, I shifted my look towards 9S's Pod.

"Pod 153, I order you to send to the Commander the data Pod 057 sent to you before. And put even 9S's analysis in it."

"Acknowledged. Data is being delivered." The Pod chimed at my words, causing the Commander to frown heavily. The fact that I was in control of not only one, but two Pods didn't sit well with her.

I could see that White's gaze shift from me to a little screen that appeared next to her. As she read what the pod sent her, I could see her becoming more and more confused. When she finished, she moved her gaze back to me. I knew what she wanted to say, so I moved before she could speak, raising my injured hand.

The mere sight of it made her bristle, and that also gave her pause. She knew exactly why she was feeling the way she was feeling. That's why her silent fury immediately disappeared, replaced by extreme confusion and... probably happiness? I thought saw her mouth twitch a bit upwards, but that was probably my mind again.

"Before I say anything else, Commander, I believe you should move into a place where no other YoRHa can hear you." I said, snapping her out of any thought she might have had.

She merely nodded, before shouting at an Operator that said Operator was taking control over the various operations, and that she had something important to do. In that moment the connection was interrupted. I wasn't truly surprised, she had to move somewhere isolated. We had a lot to discuss after all.

I waited for a couple of minutes before I was reconnected with the Commander. I couldn't see well the room around her, but from the little I could see, I assumed that it was her quarters. And here I thought that 6O was exaggerating when she said that the Commander's quarters were a mess. The more you know, I guess?

"Alright, what did you want to talk about?" She said, her voice had a clear edge to it. It made sense. She worked so hard to mask the truth, and here I was, making everything a mess.

"First things first, I want you to know that I am aware of where humanity truly is." I said scoffing a little bit and crossing my arms. "Humanity is no more... or should I say 'Was no more'? After all, I'm here, flesh and bones."

She merely made a sign to continue, probably to hear what I wanted to do.

"Anyway, what I want is pretty simple. There are some things that I will need to make sure here, and I will need all the help I can get from you. To that end, I want to formally request that 2B and 9S are to be designated as my personal guards." I said.

She brought her hand to her chin, a thoughtful expression crossing her face.

"I would have sent someone to guard you anyway. If I may ask... why those two?" She asked.

"Because I know their truths. 2B's true identity being among them." I said and secretly enjoyed seeing her grimace. "And because this way, maybe, I can prevent many horrible things from happening."

"Such as?"

I couldn't stop my face from forming a very heavy frown. "... There is a problem with the Bunker's security. At a certain point, when you'll be ready for the final strike against the machine, a hidden program will nullify the YoRHa's network's defenses against the machines' logic virus and make the Bunker explode."

It was apparent that the news were a shock, even for her. Her mouth was hanging open, looking at me as if I had lost my sanity, but my sorrowful look probably convinced her that I was saying the truth. I saw her slump down and sitting on something, probably her bed, and put her face in her hands, trying to rationalize everything I just told her.

"If that's true... Why? Why would you do this to us?" Her voice was low and broken. It could be seen that this revelation truly hurt her.

"It was not us who did it, but a prototype android. I cannot recall the details, but suffice to say that it was him who made it so that the Bunker would be destroyed." I said. Of course, I lied when I said that I didn't recall the details, but I didn't want White to lash out at the android that was created by the personality that the culprit had. 9S didn't deserve that.

"And you know this how?" she asked.

"I..." I wondered if I should have said the whole truth about me. I ended up deciding that she would know a very good portion. "I come from another universe. One where this place is a story. A tragic story. Many androids die, and there is nothing that they could have done to save themselves. But I cannot stand by and let that happen. I want to try and fix this. It doesn't matter if I end up killing myself for it." It was true. I wasn't scared of dying if it meant that everyone would be safe. However, if I died now, it would only make things worse, so... maybe staying alive would have been preferable.

Silence ensued in that moment. I knew that she had to deal with the sudden knowledge of what I told her. After a few moments, I saw her head rise and staring at me in the eyes, before I heard her chuckling.

"Your determination... I can see it burning in your eyes. I believe you, Alexander." She gave me a little smile, causing me to release a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Thank you, Commander. Truly."

"Don't thank me. But for now... Do you have anything else you want to discuss?"

I shook my head. "For the moment, no. But I do have an order for you, Commander. As the last living human on earth... I order you to survive. I truly care about you, and all of the other androids. Be them YoRHa units or not."

Her smile grew, becoming more warm. She was a scary woman, true, be she was also truly beautiful. A smile like hers... it had no price.

"As you command. And yes, 2B and 9S are now to be considered your guards. Glory... to mankind." She saluted, bringing her hand to her chest.

"Glory to mandkind." I responded by imitating her, before the transmission with her was cut off and I finally let myself drop on my knees and started shaking.

I would lie if I said that in that moment, I didn't feel my nerves taking over and practically destroy every bit of security I had. Talking to White was something I had planned, sure, but it still made me very nervous.

Pod 153 levitated down a little bit and helped me stand up when I felt that I was confident enough to stay on my feet. With that said, now there was another issue to take care of, and I had to take care of it as soon as possible.

"Pod 153, send a message to Pod 042. Tell him that I need to speak with 2B, alone." I said.

The Pod stayed silent, but I could imagine that she complied. It was her nature to follow commands, and I was a step above her assigned unit in the commanding scale. Or maybe you could say that I could practically overrule any order from White. I wasn't sure.

I had to wait probably a minute or two before 2B entered the room, followed by her Pod. Since this was still going to be a private conversation, I sent Pod 153 to guard the door, making sure no one eavesdropped.

Once the door was closed, I brought my gaze on 2B who, disappointingly, was still showing no sign of emotion on her face. I stared at her for a couple of moments, before sighing and taking a seat on the bed, and signaled at 2B to sit near me.

She complied without a word, sitting there silently, and looking forward. I didn't know how to breach the subject with delicacy, so... I tried with the fact that now she answered to me.

"I spoke with the Commander about a new assignment for you and 9S. You will now act as my personal guards. But that's not the only reason I asked you here, 2B." I said, keeping a neutral tone.

She merely nodded and looked at me, waiting to hear what I wanted from her specifically.

"First things first... I know your true designation." With the corner of my eyes, I could see her flinch away a little bit. "2B... real designation: 2E. Number 2, Type Executioner. An android specifically built to kill other androids."

When I glanced at her, she was looking down towards the ground, her hands balled into fists and shoulder more tense than I've ever seen. I could not see her eyes, but from her mouth's frown, I could easily understand that she was glaring.

Knowing about her secret didn't sit well with her, and she actually showed it. After a few seconds of silence, I was surprised when she was the one who broke it.

"... And what will you do about it?" She asked. Her voice was uncharacteristically low and scared. I'm sure she was truly scared in this moment, knowing that someone in a higher place than her just revealed that he knew her true nature.

In that moment, however, I did the only thing that I could imagine myself doing in front of her like this. I heard her gasp when I suddenly pulled her against me, locking her in a hug. She was caught off guard, so she didn't put up any resistance, and she was extremely confused.

"Nothing." I said, my voice as gentle as a breeze as I also gave her a kiss on her forehead. "If anything... I'll tell you what I know for certain. I will not let you suffer again. For once, 2B... let your true emotions run free."

That did it, and the dam broke. She gripped my shirt and I was sure that she was holding back on her strength so that she wouldn't rip it. But still, she sobbed and let herself cry for once. I just stood there, keeping her in my arms and caressing her back as she emptied herself of her pain and frustration.

We stood like that for what was probably 10 minutes before she finally stopped sobbing, and pulled away from me. She removed her visor, and I could finally see her beautiful blue eyes, even if they were glistening with all the tears that she shed. And looking down at my shirt, I'm sure it was completely soaked. It... was probably best if I asked Anemone or the twins for some clothes.

Still, I brought my hand on 2B's shoulder as she finished wiping her eyes. She brought her gaze back to me, a very small smile drawn on her face, bringing a smile on me too.

"Despite what YoRHa says, emotions are not forbidden, 2B." I told her. "If you want, you can still act like normal. The only thing I ask is that, when we are alone, you let yourself loose. It can be anything: happiness, sadness, anger, anything. I'm here for you, ok?"

She didn't say anything as she nodded and put back her visor on. Her face fell into the same neutrality as before. I pushed myself up and gave a hand to 2B, which she took and used it to stand up as well.

"With that settled, let's return to what I said to the beginning. You and 9S are now my guards. You will answer to me and me alone. Understood?"

"Yes. I will follow your orders. ... But since you know of me, you also know about..."

"9S's story? Yes. That is something that we'll deal with another day." I said, fighting the urge to sigh. I was hoping with all of my heart that 9S wouldn't go full psycho with me here. "For now, I want you to go out and hear if there are missions you could take. As you go to hear about that, tell 9S to come here. I'm sure he has many questions, and I have some for him too."

2B nodded before she went to the door, and activelly called 9S who immediately responded and came running towards her. She merely nodded for him to enter and closed the door when he did. I could see a bit of disappointment in his features before he masked them behind his usual attitude.

"Did you want to see me?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure you will have a lot of questions for me, but I have some questions for you too. So, I said to myself 'Why not just indulge him? I might gain something from this too'. " I said with a shrug.

Once again, the visor that they always wore didn't allow me to see their eyes, but his smile was enough for me to know of his excitment.

"I do! There are many human customs that I still don't understand. And since you're here, you can finally solve some of the more strange things I came across."

I openely laughed in good nature at his words. After all, if there was one thing that I was certain of...

"It's true. We humans are really complicated."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's chapter 4. Finally, Alexander was able to speak with Commander White and get her on his side... Or did he? Just kidding. Of course he did. It's an android's primary job to respond to their creators, and Alexander knows this. He will definetly try an use that to help everyone around him.
> 
> Once again, if something seems a bit off, do tell me. While I have played a lot of NieR: Automata, sometimes I just make mistakes without noticing. Also, if you have questions, bee free to ask them. Of course, I won't go into spoiler territory, but I'll do my very best to answer! Also, there are some things that I might end up changing, but that's not a 100% certainty.
> 
> As always, critique is welcome. With that said, I bid you farewell! *Sprints away with Emil's Shop blaring in the background*


	5. Geared up and ready to go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our protagonist ask and answers some questions and gears up for his own personal quest

The smile that was painted on 9S' face was truly a marvelous sight. He could now actually talk to someone about his fascination about humans, other than 21O, without having to worry too much. And to top it all off, he was gonna talk about it to a human. It truly made me happy to see him so elated.

With a simple smile and a gesture for him to sit down on the bed, I took my place on said bed and waited for him to start his barrage of questions he had for me. What took me by surprise, however, is that while he approached me and sit down quickly, he was actually acting a little bit shy. I could see it in how he was playing with his own hands.

"Is something the problem, 9S?" I asked, keeping my tone gentle.

He quickly shook is head, some would say too quickly. It was obvious that something was bothering him, but it wouldn't feel right for me to press him into telling me what was troubling his thoughts. With a simple shrug, I brought my gaze away from him and looked at the ceiling.

"So, since we both have questions, how about we trade? You ask, I answer. Then I ask, and you answer. Sounds good?"

"Yes. It seems ideal. So... May I start?" He asked. When I nodded at him, he immediately stopped fidgeting and directed his full attention towards me. "My first question is rather simple: why are you here, and not on the moon."

Ah, the million dollar question. To be quite frank, I expected for him to actually ask that as the very first question, but I was hoping he would keep it for later. Once again, it seemed like this world wanted to screw me over from the very beginning. Well, I was ready for that.

"To be totally honest with you, I don't know why I'm here. The last thing I remember before waking up nearby, is me just... going to bed for the night." I said, and it was the truth. That was the last thing I rememberd doing before waking up in this world. Even my pajama was proff of that.

"Huh, that's weird." He said, frowning softly and bringing a hand to his chin in a thoughtful pose. He was probably thinking of an explaination, but coming up blank. I was in the same situation, so I could sympathise.

"Who knows, maybe we'll find out eventually." I put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a little grin. "But I suppose now it's my turn for a question."

At my statement, he simply nodded and spurred me to ask him what I wanted to know. There were many that I could ask him, but I had to pick them carefully, or I might have cause some damage.

"Let's start with something simple. How long have you been... active, 9S?" That was probably the weakest question I could have ever asked. So much so, that I facepalmed internally at my own stupidity.

"Well... I guess you could say that I have been out for a couple of months, probably. You lose track of time when there is so much to explore." He was grinning while thinking about it, his mind wandering through all the things he discovered. " Now, there is something I wish to know about the humans."

I gestured at him to continue, while giving him a very similar grin to the one he had in that moment.

"What is exactly a 'family'? I've seen many things related to it, but neither me nor 21O have been able to fully understand it."

While I was expecting that kind of question, it startled a laugh out of me, and caused him to stutter a bit. I remembered that during route B you had a quest near the desert where you'd have to find stuff that once belonged to humans.

"Ah, that's an interesting question. A family is... for lack of a better term, a group of people that live together. Most of the time these people are related by blood, but that's not always the case. A family usually has two parental figures, one male and one female, and then younger figures that are the children of the two.

Now, some of those children can be related by blood to both the parental figures, since they created them. However, there was always the chance of adoption. Basically, taking someone not related to you by blood and decide to treat them as if you had that blood correlation."

I paused momentarily from my explaination to glance at 9S and see his expression. He was listening to me with rapt attention, even taking notes on a little screen that Pod 153 created for him. I couldn't hold back a smirk at the sight.

"The adopted one could become a 'son' or 'daughter' of the one who adopted them, if they are younger in age. If the two are around the same age, however, they could decide to adopt eachother as 'siblings'. The latter case is rarer than the former however. But despite that, if they decide to treat eachother as close as real siblings, it can still work."

With my explaination ended, I took a second to see if 2B had returned from looking around for missions. She wasn't in the room yet, so I assumed she was still looking.

"This... This is so much more than what I had been able to uncover so far. Humans are so fascinating." 9S said, mostly to himself. His smile was actually charming to look at, and I wouldn't be ashamed of saying that if I were bisexual or gay, I would have fallen in love.

"I can imagine that you wouldn't find much about families. For us, family is something that we learn from birth, basically." He nodded at my words, shifting his gaze from the notes he took back to me. "Ok, now my question... What is your opinion on the machines? I'm sure you've seen a fair share of them around."

9S brought a hand to his chin, a thoughtful frown on his face as he processed my question and his answer.

"Well, they are the enemy. So, my mission is to wipe them all out alongside 2B and other YoRHa units. But... I've seen some strange stuff not so long ago."

"Do tell." I had to feign surprise at his words. If he was gonna say what I thought he was gonna say, then me not being surprised would have been suspicious.

"2B and I were in the desert, right before coming here. We saw a group of machines acting in a very weird way." 9S explained. I knew he was telling me the few moments before Adam and Eve's birth right when he said 'desert'. "Some of them were... shoving eachother. Another was moving a cradle. Also, they were saying things like 'child', 'together forever' and such."

"... This is weird." Again, I was lying. "From what you're telling me, it sounds like they were trying to emulate my people."

"That's what I thought too! But then again, machines don't have emotions. They aren't intelligent enough to have them." 9S said with a little edge in his voice. "So... I think Machines are the enemy, but some of them are worth studying."

Ok, that was not good. The little edge on his voice really made me uneasy, like he was really close to going psycho. Maybe if 2B was nearby, he would keep himself in check a little more.

As if sensing my worries, 2B entered the room, keeping her emotionless mask on as soon as she saw that 9S was still inside. It hurt to see her like that, but she was doing what she thought best. My best would be letting her be more open in the future with 9S as well.

"Alexander. 9S. Anemone told me that there is something we can help her with." 2B said professionally. "She said that some of her men disappeared in a spot not too far from here. I've been asked to go and investigate."

Following the story events, I quickly remembered where this would lead. The Amusement Park, one of the places that I loved during the A and B routes, but that gave me chills during the C route. Since now Anemone asked 2B to check out what's going on.

"I see. I assume that we have no rush, yeah?" I asked, keeping a friendly smile towards 2B.

She merely nodded and sat down onto the other bed in the room, taking a moment to relax... although not too much if her expression was anything to go by.

"Well, with that said, wanna continue with the questions 9S?"

"Huh? Oh, yes! Ok, now I guess it's my turn, right?" He asked. There was a little hint of pink in his facial features, and before I called him he was staring at 2B. Little guy was not subtle, and I took silent pleasure in seeing him act like a teenager in front of his crush.

"Indeed. So, what else do you wanna know?"

His next questions were still about humanity and our little quirks, while mine were more info on YoRHa. Sometimes, 2B would fill in with some information that 9S either didn't know or forgot to say. It was mostly stuff I already knew thanks to the various info that you could find in game or thanks to the various stuff Yoko Taro released.

After a while, feeling a bit restless, I decided that now it was a good time to move along with the story. I could not keep them here forever.

"Ok, you two. Are we ready to go?" I asked, sparing a glance towards the two androids.

  
"Wait, you're coming with us?" 9S was extremely confused at my question. "You should stay here while me and 2B deal with the mission Anemone passed us."

Biting back a chuckle, I turned myself fully to the male android, but kept my usual smirk on my face. God, it was so fun messing with him.

"Oh, it must have slipped my mind." I sighed theatrically. "I asked the Commander to assign the two of you as my personal guards. Your main job is to... well, guard me. Anything else can be done with my approval. And to be honest, I feel like exploring a little bit. So, we shall travel together. It's only a scouting mission, right?"

His displeasure at this information was evident. I couldn't actually tell if it was because he wanted to be alone with 2B or if he didn't want to put me in danger. Still, his grimace was speaking louder than words.

"Oh, come on. I have the two of you to protect me!" I said, sounding as confident as I could. "I'm sure that even if a machine got close, you'd destroy it before it could lift a finger."

This time, it was 2B that bristled a bit at my words. Probably she was thinking that if a machine got close in the first place, she'd regret it. Before I could add anything else, however, she took the 40-type spear I had with me and made it disappear, probably in her inventory, and she pulled out a YoRHa-issue Blade.

That made me pause for a moment. That weapon was given as a reward for a quest that brought 2B and 9S back in the factory. If 2B completed that mission, then how did 2B miss seeying and taking her own greatsword? My guess was that she was in a hurry... but that didn't make a lot of sense.

Still, she presented the sword to me, a silent request for me to take it as a self-defense weapon. Without saying a word, I took the sword and tried a couple of swings in the air, while being sure that I wouldn't strike the two androids. Or anything around me, really.

The sword weighted just like a normal sword would. It wasn't light, but it wasn't extremely heavy either, so it didn't really hinder my movement capabilities. I could use it for a more evasive combat style, something that I could imitate from videogames characters... within limits of possibility, that is. I was still a normal human.

When I went to put the sword in its scabbard, I remembered that YoRHa units let their weapons float behind them. As I was weighting my options, someone knocked at the door to the room and didn't wait before entering. Devola and Popola were carrying a bundle of clothes with them, dropping them off on the bed after making sure I was still inside.

"We saw that your clothes were damaged and... Well, they also seem impractical." Devola said with a deadpan. _No shit, Sherlock. This is a pajama._ "These are some clothes we've found around the camp that nobody was using. At least with these you'll be more comfortable."

"That was nice of you two, thanks." I nodded and gave them a smile. Devola smirked back, while Popola had a smaller smile on her lips, but she was adverting her gaze. "2B, 9S, please exit the room. Devola, Popola. You two will stay here and help me out with these."

The first one to bolt out of the room, to my infinite surprise, was 9S. He was basically a white and black blur that moved as fast as his legs could carry him. 2B followed calmely after him with a slower pace, as if she was having doubts about leaving me alone with the twins. In the end however, she just did what she was told and exited the room, closing the door.

The twins merely shared a glance before starting to sort out the various clothes, helping me decide which one I'd end up wearing. I couldn't quite place why I chose the two of them as my assistants. It could have been because I knew they assured me a couple times that, no matter what, they'd pick my side on everything.

I decided to leave that thought alone for now and concentrated on the clothes in front of me. It didn't take much to decide what I would wear, actually. I was decked out with the same outfits as any Resistance member, but I also had a shawl that was used to travel in the desert, so it covered my mouth and nose.

Looking at the twins rewarded me with a nod from the two of them, with Devola also making a 'thumbs up' gesture.

"Thank you. I was starting to become worried about going around with that broken pajama." I said.

"Well, if you'd like, we can repair it." Devola took my pajama in her hands to have a look at it. Then she brought her gaze on the discarded piece of cloth on the floor that had once been my shirt's sleeve. "Did you cut it off on your own?"

I merely nodded while I attached the sword 2B gave me to my belt. It was probably gonna stand out that I was given a YoRHa blade, but it was not like I could really hide it. "I used it to get a hold of the spear I found when I woke up here. Since it was near an explosion it was still hot. Didn't want to burn myself."

That phrase rewarded me with a stare from the twins. I held up my hands in a placating gesture, while Devola came close to actually analyze me. Was she looking for scorching marks from the explosion I mentioned? I heard her sigh in relief as she found nothing.

"You have to be more careful. We know that the humans are far weaker than us androids." Devola chided. When I merely shrugged, she glared at me.

"That's why 2B gave me a sword. Since I'm going to join her and 9S in a scouting mission, I need a weapon to defend myself." I raised a hand as soon as I heard them starting to protest. "I know that you want me to be safe. But... locking me here will just make me stir-crazy. And I want to see how the world changed from my last memories."

That got both of them to bite back their words, but they didn't hide their conflicted gazes. They wanted me to be safe and unharmed, but they both knew that I could not be stay locked up forever.

"I promise to be extra careful, ok?" I took one of their hands with my own and held them gently. "I will listen to what 2B and 9S suggest to keep me out of harm's way. They know how to fight better than me."

We stood like that in silence for a few moments, before Popola moved to hug me. Despite being caught unprepared, I hugged her back. I also invited Devola to join the hug, but she shook her head with a smile. For now, she was letting her sister getting all the comfort she needed.

When Popola let me go, I flashed her a smile that she returned. Then, out of a whim, I hugged Devola for a moment and gave her a playful wink when I saw her completely flabbergasted. With that said, I exited the room. 2B and 9S were closeby and they immediately snapped their head over my direction when they heard the door open.

"Ah, wait a sec." I quickly went back in and took Pod 057, bringing him outside. "What about this little fellow? How are you going to repair it?"

9S held his hand towards me, probably asking me to give him the Pod. With slight shrug I handed the Pod to him and he immediately bolted for the... teleportation machine in the camp. When I stopped to think about it, they never had a technical name, didn't they? That was a question that I forgot to ask him back inside. I decided that I would brign the subject up when we were moving towards the Amusement Park.

The little android boy rejoined us after a minute, a cheerful smile on his face. "I've sent the request to 21O to ask if the Scanners in the Bunker can fix the pod. We'll have news in a few hours at best."

"Good to know. Ok, I have everything I need, so we can start the mission." Before moving however, I made sure to change my voice from a more casual tone to a dead serious and military like speech. "We shall speak to Anemone first. I want to be sure that she knows that I'm coming with the two of you."

They nodded wordlessly as they started to move towards the back of the camp, where Anemone was bent over some documents. When she heard us approach, she went to probably say something, but immediately snapped her mouth close when she saw me.

Clearing my voice, I quietly told her about my decision of joining 2B and 9S. Strangely enough, she didn't even bother about complaining or protesting my decision. Although... I could see that her nod was forced. She was _so_ not ok with this, but had no other choice but to listen to my whims.

"As I said to Devola and Popola, I promise to be careful." I shot a quick glance to the two YoRHa androids near me. "Since these two are now my guards, I'll listen to their inputs. If it's too dangerous for me, I'll retreat."

I stood and saluted her in a typical military fashion, before gesturing the two androids to follow me outside of camp, ready to join them in their mission.

' _This is it, you weirdo._ ' I thought as soon as I turned my back to Anemone and started walking towards the exit of the camp. ' _It's time for you to change this world's fate... or die trying._ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, he said it. He said the name of the fic. Roll credits.
> 
> Joking aside, it was actually really easy for me to write the chapter this time around. While the whole problem about COVID-19 stole a lot of my time (no, I didn't get sick), I still managed to find time to finish it. I truly hope you like how I wrote the Q&A session between Alex and 9S. That was the only wall of this chapter, but it wasn't a really big one like writing White in the last chapter. The other questions that they talked about are left unsaid because... they would have been something that we already know about the game. So, next chapter will be the the trip towards the Amusement Park. Just like our dear protagonist, I love that place during routes A and B, but find it creepy during C for obvious reasons.
> 
> As always, critique is welcome. If all goes well, next chapter will actually be around the 20th of April if not before. Since I'm getting more confident with my writing skills, it might happen. With that said, hope you are all doing OK even with the pandemic problems, and I'll see you next time! Also, I'm bad with titles. It is my only weakness T^T


	6. Quick Update

Hey everyone, RemnantofWar here. I know you were expecting chapter 6 of the story, but I have some bad news for you. Every hour I spent on this chapter through this entire month has been lost. 

The file with the chapter got corrupted somehow and I didn't have a backup of it because I was stupid. So, yeah. I guess you could blame me for it. Anyway, don't worry since there is a bright side to this mess.

I wasn't fully convinced with what I wrote, so I was already thinking about changing it. Losing this chapter did piss me off, but at least I can rework it. And I make a promise right here and now. Chapter 6 WILL have a precise date of release. And that day is the 10th of May. The chapter will come out that day, I promise.

Again, sorry for making you wait longer than I intended to. I truly hope that what I will write will please you all. Have a nice day and remember to stay safe.


End file.
